


Box of tricks

by myotishia



Series: Thin ice [2]
Category: Torchwood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-05
Updated: 2019-09-10
Packaged: 2020-10-10 11:08:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20527010
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/myotishia/pseuds/myotishia
Summary: An old leather case becomes a Pandoras box for a group of Cardiff residents.





	1. Consequences of a drunken night out

**Author's Note:**

> New reader? Start right [here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18551278)

Gwen had been so ready for this day. Finally getting to see her baby. Everything was ready: overnight bag, check, baby bag, check, car seat, check, mass text to the family, check, Rhys running around like a blue arse fly even though everything was already done, check. 

“Rhys, I love you but if you don’t grab your keys and get us to the hospital right now I’m going to walk.” She held out his keys, going back to her breathing exercises. 

“Yes. Sorry. I thought we’d have more time.” He smiled, taking the keys and opening the door for her. 

“Babies don’t really follow our schedules. It’s fine. Everything's going like it should and I even gave the midwife a heads up.” 

He locked the front door and moved to open the car door. “I’m glad you’ve got your head together.”

“Not like it’s the first time we’ve had a 3am emergency call, is it.” Sitting in the car she smiled to herself, finding that she almost missed the early morning call outs. There was always a good reason for them and the roads were always pretty much empty. It always felt surreal as the rest of the world slept. She was pulled from her thoughts by another contraction. 

Ianto appreciated days when he could finally catch up with his duties and actually have a break. He lent back in his chair , reading over the third volume of Black butler that Tosh had given him after mentioning that he reminded her of Sebastian. He wasn’t opposed to the comparison. Though he didn’t think he could pull off that extravagant of an outfit. 

“Morning.” Elise grinned.

“Morning. You’re here early.”

“Yea, Gwen went into labour last night and I’ve been up texting her since five. Apparently Rhys is nesting and will not sit down.”

He smiled. “I heard. Jack woke me up specifically to tell me. I hope the text I sent back made any sense at all. What can I help you with then?”

“Weeell, remember I mentioned I asked Martha for something while she was helping stitch me back together.”

He placed his book down. “Yes.”

“She delivered.” She handed over a small package, a flash of red visible from where it had been opened.

He blushed brightly. “Please tell me you didn’t tell her why you wanted this.”

“Of course not. I told her it was for next years cosplay and you don’t argue someone you’re sewing back together.”

“Well…” He cleared his throat. “Thanks.”

“No problem. Oh, and I had a bit of a breakthrough with the light sabre project.”

He tucked the package in one of the hidden draws of his desk. “I thought you’d given up.”

“I almost did but then Tosh was talking about how a sonic screwdriver works and it hit me. A light sabre doesn’t use light, it uses sound to agitate the particles around itself. That’s why it cauterises everything it cuts off. It’s why it makes the noise when it moves.”

“Makes sense. If you told Jack he would probably be intrigued enough to fund your research.”

“That’s the best part. I told Tosh and she had an idea to use it for a shield instead of a sword. It could block anything and it’d be portable. She’s explaining it to Jack now. Speaking of.”

“Give me the list.” He held out his hand.

She bounced and handed him a folded piece of paper with a list of components and equipment she’d need. “Thank youuuu. You’re the best.”

Tosh had been explaining the blueprints she had spread out in front of her as Jack listened, only understanding half of it but finding her enthusiasm kind of contagious. He’d known of sonic weaponry but it wasn’t often used in a defensive manner. If anyone could pull it off it was Tosh.

“Ok, go for it. Things seem pretty quiet around here anyway.” He said.

Her smile could have lit up the room at that moment. She always seemed so happy in quiet times when she could just throw herself into a project, especially when it was something with the potential to benefit the team. She worried about them even if she never said anything. Even knowing that Jack couldn’t die didn’t stop her concern. That’s just who she was. 

Owen yawned, having not slept as well as he would have liked. “I had to talk them out of making a prototype last night.”

“Just a small one. I don’t think we even had all the materials.” She shot him a disapproving glance.

“Never stopped you before.”

“Don’t exaggerate.”

“What happened to the toaster?”

She spluttered before settling with, “That was Elise.”

“It was.” Elise joined them, smiling triumphantly. “But I replaced it so don’t complain. Do we have the go ahead then?”

Jack nodded, “What’s got you in such a good mood if you weren’t sure I’d give you the green light?”

“Because you don’t know it yet, but you owe me one. And Martha technically.”

“I don’t know if I like you and Ianto hanging out together. I sense a conspiracy.”

“True, but have I ever steered him wrong? Anyway, if I don’t look out for you lot what other silly bugger will?”

Jack laughed. “I can take care of myself. Now, you have a project to get started.”

Eliot Dean had spent his night with his friends, drinking too much and daring each other to do stupid things that they’d never consider sober. His mouth tasted like death and cigarettes as he dragged himself out of bed and to the bathroom. What time was it? 9:35. It felt later. His stomach grumbled and he tried to remember if they’d ended up getting food after they left the pub. Even if they had he can’t have had much. He was starving. He didn’t even realise he’d been chewing his toothbrush to the point that his mouth was half full of bristles. Spitting them out, he groaned at the pain both in his head and stomach. Downstairs, the kitchen called. He opened the fridge and groaned at how empty it was. He took a carton of milk and glugged it down but it didn’t feel like it had filled in even the smallest gap. If anything it made the feeling worse. Ripping open a pack of ham he bit into the slices as if they were a solid mass. He needed more. Why didn’t it feel like there was anything in his stomach? Twenty minutes later the kitchen had been turned inside out and there wasn’t a scrap of food left. He stared at the empty ketchup bottle that he had discarded after drinking the contents. He was still so hungry. He grabbed his wallet and pulled on a pair of trainers and a coat. He needed more food. That’s all he could think of. 

PC Andy Davidson did not know what this guy was on but it must be strong. Bath salts maybe? He’d heard stories but most of it was sensationalised nonsense. The man in front of him was manically stuffing bread into his mouth, not even stopping to take the wrapper off. The staff member who’d called the police said he’d done the same in the confectionery isle.

“Right, you need to stop and come with me.” He said.

The man, mouth still full, looked up with desperation seeping from every pore. He swallowed hard. “So hungry… Why won’t it stop?” He gasped before stuffing more bread into his mouth. 

This man wasn’t going to come along easily and the fact that the mans stomach wasn’t terribly distended said something was wrong. Usually Andy’d call Gwen but last he heard she was having a baby. At least she’d left him a secondary number. Holding his phone he told the manager to get the staff and customers out quietly then lock all the doors. He dialled the number, hoping this wouldn’t be the thing to finally get him fired. It rang once before someone answered.

“Hello?” Asked Jack, not recognising the number. 

“Oh, yes. I’m PC Davidson, Gwen gave me this number if I ran into anything… Strange?”

“Gwens old partner. I’ll have to talk to her about who she gives my number to.”

“Wait. I’m serious. There’s a man here eating half a supermarket without even unwrapping anything. Literal shelves full. Humans can’t do that.”

Jack paused. “Ok, that sounds a bit more interesting. Send me the address and don’t let him leave.”

The call ended suddenly. “Well, I don’t think he’s going anywhere.” Andy sighed, watching the man move on to a large section of cakes. The image was disgusting and fascinating at the same time. 

Owen always hated having to get through crowds when he was working as he was always carrying bulky items. That and people never got out of the way. Jack could part an ocean of people just by walking in. He suspected it was the coat. Ignoring the crowd of confused staff and shoppers they reached the front door. Andy opened it and closed it behind them. 

“Thanks for coming quickly, I think he’d be chewing on cans if he was left any longer.” The police officer said, pointing to the distraught man trying to eat a potato like an apple on the produce isle floor. 

Jack had to admit this was a new one for him. “And he just walked in and started eating everything in sight?”

“Yep. I don’t know where it’s even going. He should be the size of a house by now.”

“What do you think Owen?”

The young doctor knelt close to Eliot. “Nothing I can see externally. What’s your name mate?”

“Eliot.” The man said between mouth fulls of parsnip. “So hungry. Nothing helps.”

“Ok. Being as eating isn’t helping, think you can stop for a second?”

Eliot looked down, considering his options. “Why is this happening to me?”

“That’s what we’re going to find out. Mind coming with us? See if we can stop whatever this is?”

“I… If I stop it hurts.” 

“When did this start?”

“This morning… I went out with my mates last night and I was fine but… I don’t remember how I got home but when I woke up I… I feel like I’m going to starve.”

Back at the hub a quick scan showed a foreign object in Eliots stomach but no sign of any of the food he’d consumed. It would have to be surgically removed if they wanted to study whatever it was but they still had no idea how it got there. Eliot himself would be fine and wouldn’t even have a scar to say what had happened. The item was small, similar in shape to a water bottle filter. As soon as it was extracted it switched itself off. Activated by liquid possibly. It hadn’t done any damage to Eliot physically so he could be sent home as soon as he’d woken up. Once cleaned up Owen sat a tank of water on the table and placed the device inside. It lit up. Testing a theory Owen tipped half a cup of soil into the tank which immediately disappeared. The item was a kind of water purifier. Whatever liquid it was placed in would be set as default for the device and if anything else was added it would be destroyed. That’s where all the food and wrappers had gone. It still didn’t explain how the thing ended up in the mans stomach but being drunk made you do stupid things like swallowing an industrial water purifier. 

Tosh had taken a break as a few components needed time to set. In the meantime she’d looked up Eliots social media, looking for a clue as to where he’d picked up the item he’d ingested. There were a few drunken posts from the night before that weren’t much help but those he’d been with were tagged. One of which had a photo, taken approximately an hour before, sitting in a hospital room and holding up his hand with some kind of glove locked around it. The caption said “Still here. Firemen couldn’t cut it off. This is my life now apparently.” 

Jack wandered over, recognising the look in Toshikos eyes. “What have we got?”

“The night out was fun for everyone it seems.” She said, zooming in to the glove in the image. 

“While me and Owen finish up with Eliot could you and Elise go and pick that up?”

“If we can get it unlocked.”

“Hopefully he’ll remember where he got these things from. And while you’re there you can see how Gwen’s doing if she’s accepting visitors.” 

Oliver pulled at the metal glove, firmly locked around his wrist and fingers. It wasn’t painful just uncomfortable. 

His friend, Laurence, rolled his eyes. “I told you not to put it on.”

“At least I didn’t accidentally swallow it like Eliot. Haven’t heard from him yet this morning.”

“Yea, he drank more than any of us. He’s probably still face down in the toilet.”

“Hope the nurse gets back soon. I’m ready to just say sod it and go home.”

“Eh, wait a sec.”

“What?”

“Shush… There’s someone outside the door.” Laurence gestured.

“Another nurse?”

“They don’t look like it. Not bad looking.”

“Oh keep in in your trousers.”

“You haven’t got a girlfriend either.” 

“You don’t meet girls at the hospital.” 

The door opened and two women entered. 

“Hi, we’re the specialists who are going to try and free your hand.” Smiled Elise. Tosh closed the door and placed down a case. 

“Not going to cut it off are you?” Oliver gave a goofy smile and waved the gloved hand. 

“I hope not. Let me have a look at what we’re dealing with here.” 

Tosh moved so she could see too, nodding a hello to Laurence. “So, where did you find this?”

“Not a copper are you?” Laurence laughed as if he thought they’d stolen something.

“No. We’re definitely not the police.” 

“Well, me and this twink were out last night-”

Oliver shot him a glare. “Calling me a twink you arsehole.”

“Anyway, we were out last night. And dodgy Dave, this lad from college, he met us in the pub and said he’d found this old leather case. We thought he was full of shit but before we went home he showed us. It was one of those old, leather, suitcases with the little padlocks on. He broke the lock off and opened it. Inside was a load of what we thought was junk until he pulls out this old silver pocket watch but it looked brand new. I think Dave just wanted to sell it. Then our mate Eliot comes over and grabs this … What would you even call it?”

“It was like the bit inside a britta filter.”

“Yea. Yea, anyway, he grabs this thing and said he could fit it in his mouth. Props to him he could but then he goes and trips, like the drunk twat he is, and swallows it. When we finally stopped laughing we went to see what else was in this case.”

“And that’s when I put on this glove. There was only one but it looked like a sci fi prop so I wanted to try it on.”

“There was some other stuff too. I think Dave took it with him.”

“And now I’m stuck.”

“Hopefully not for much longer.” Elise said, twisting what Oliver thought was just a button. The cuff loosened enough to slip the glove off.”There we go.”

Tosh smiled, knowing Elise had been stalling the whole time so they could talk. “So where does this Dave live? I mean if this had you stuck then he might be in trouble as well.”

Oliver flexed his fingers now his hand was free. “As long as you don’t tell him it was us who told you.”

“We promise we won’t tell him a thing.” 

“Maybe we could send you a text with his address?”

Elise chuckled. “Smooth, but not smooth enough. I’m afraid we’re both very much taken.”

“Worth a shot.” He shrugged, looking a bit disappointed. “Got a pen and paper?”

Rhys grabbed a cup of coffee. It was really just hot water that had heard of the concept of coffee but it was better than nothing. Gwen was resting with Anwen. Even with the bad coffee he smiled.

“Rhys?” Asked Tosh cheerily.

He turned and waved. “Hi. What are you both doing here? Everyone ok?”

“We’re fine. We just had to pick something up. How’s Gwen?”

“She’s resting. I think we forgot to text you. Anwen was born at 9:45, happy and healthy with a strong set of lungs on her.” He beamed.

“Congratulations. I’m so glad it went well.”

“Do you want to come and see her?”

“Are you sure she won’t mind? We wouldn’t want to disturb her.”

“I’m sure she won’t mind. Might be nice to see some familiar faces before our parents arrive and start trying to give us parenting advice.” 

He lead them to the room where Gwen was awake but making the most of her comfortable pillows. 

“I’ve brought some friends. You two taking visitors?” He asked quietly.

She tilted her head. “That was fast. Come in.”

Tosh waved enthusiastically while Elise followed, staying close to the door. 

“Hello. What are you two doing here? No one’s hurt are they?”

“Just work. You look great for just having a baby.”

“Thanks.” Gwen chuckled softly. “I feel like hell but it was worth it.”

She looked down at the sleeping newborn. “Oh my god she’s beautiful.”

“Would you like to hold her?”

“Can I? I don’t want to wake her up.” 

“She prefers being held anyway.” Gwen lent over and carefully picked up the tiny bundle as Tosh sat in one of the chairs, eyes glimmering at the infant. 

“She’s so tiny.”

“She didn’t feel that small. How are things at work?”

“Just dealing with stupid people finding a case full of technology.”

“Oooh fun. Elise, you don’t have to hide in the corner you know.”

“Come over and say hello.”

Elise approached carefully, smiling nervously at the tiny baby that had no right to be that small.

“You can have a cuddle too if you want.”

“Me? N-no, it’s ok. Metal won’t be too comfortable for her. I can wait until she’s a bit older and less fragile.”

“If you’re sure.” She wasn’t going to push the issue but she could tell that Elise really did want to hold Anwen but she was terrified of her. “She can owe you.”

Elise nodded and rested a hand on Toshikos shoulder. “She is beautiful though. Hi Anwen. Welcome to the world.”

The baby scrunched her nose and began to cry. 

“Oh dear, cuddle time’s over.” Tosh chucked, handing Anwen back to her mother.

“It’s ok, she’s just hungry.” Gwen said, noting that Elise had immediately backed off as soon as the baby had started to fuss. 

“Well, we’d better get back to work anyway, as much as I’d love to stay.”

“I’ll send you a message later. Say hi to everyone for me.”

“I will.” She stood and took Elises hand then looked over to Rhys to say goodbye but he’d fallen asleep in his chair. 

“Are you ok?” Tosh asked softly as she fastened her seat belt.

“Me? Yea, why?”

“You’ve been a bit jumpy, that’s all.”

“Have I?”

“Eli.”

“I… I just don’t want to accidentally hurt Anwen, that’s all. I don’t want her to be scared of me.”

“Why on Earth would she be scared of you?”

“Babies and animals see things others can’t. I don’t want to give the poor little bugger nightmares.”

“That’s not what she’s going to see. That’s not you.”

Elise sighed and shook her head. “Come on. Let’s get back. We’ve still got to find that case with the rest of the stuff.”

“Did you work out what that glove was for?”

“You couldn’t tell?”

“I think so but it seemed a bit simple.”

She stared out of the window. “Sometimes it just is that simple. It’s a punching blade glove.”

“It’s a good thing he didn’t activate it.”

“Mm.”

Dave had only just woken up and dragged himself out of bed, the case still abandoned on his living room floor. He pulled it open and yawned as he looked for anything else that could be valuable. He tossed a folder aside, papers sliding under the coffee table. Underneath, an assortment of devices had been organised and tagged with numerical codes.

“This a spy kit or something?” He mumbled to himself, holding up an item that looked like a hand mirror with intricate patterns etched into the surface of the glass. He studied his reflection and as he moved the mirror he saw someone looking over his shoulder. He spun around but there was no one there. He was seeing things. Too many late nights and too much alcohol was messing with his head. He rubbed his eyes and looked back into the mirror. Nothing there. Of course there was nothing there. He laughed at himself for jumping at a trick of the light as the mirror fell to the floor, cracking.

“Shit!” He picked up the shards and placed them on the coffee table, standing to get the hoover. The sound of crackling glass made him turn only to come face to face with a set of blank, white, eyes. 

“Wh-What the fuck?!” He gasped, stumbling back and towards the kitchen, desperate to get to the door and away from the twisted being crouched on his coffee table. Daves world seemed to lose all colour as it stared at him and he fell back.  It took the opportunity to crawl over him so they were face to face.

Jack knocked on the front door of the address Tosh had given him before getting back to the sonic shield. Owen was going to come along but he’d made something up to stay at the hub after Tosh had whispered something to him. Elise had been happy to tag along instead but she was distant, barely spoke. He didn’t want to pry. Well he did but he knew he shouldn’t. That would have to wait. He knocked on the door again, but there was no reply.

“Elise, check the back door.” He called. 

She nodded and disappeared around the side of the house. Moments later she returned.

“Jack! Come and take a look at this.”

“At what?” Rushing around the corner he saw what had caught her attention. The door, and the wall surrounding it, looked like it had been greyscaled. “Ok, that’s new.”

Elise tiptoed to try and look into the window. “I think someone’s in there. They’re not moving.”

“Then we should let ourselves in.” He took a step back and rammed the door open. 

Inside the house looked like it too had been set to greyscale, including the man on the kitchen floor. Jack knelt next to him and checked for a pulse. Nothing. He wasn’t cold, more like the ambient temperature of the room but he can’t have been dead long. 

“Be careful, we don’t know what did this.” 

Elise scanned over the room. “Do you think it was something from the suitcase?”

“It’s likely. Speaking of. Where is it?”

“I could be wrong, as it’s really hard to tell in here, but I think this might be it… Do these tags look familiar to you?” She held out a tag that had fallen from one of the items.

He took it and turned it over in his hand. “This looks like an old Torchwood tag. Really old.”

“How did a case full of Torchwood tagged tech get out here?”

“I don’t know but I don’t recognise the handwriting. This could have been from another branch.”

“Hmm.” She grabbed the folder from under the table and placed the papers back inside, hopefully, in the right order. Careful not to touch the tiny shards of broken glass scattered on the cover. 

He looked over her shoulder as she studied the file. “So, did you and Tosh have an argument?”

“Huh? No, why?”

“You’ve been distracted since you got back from the hospital and she convinced Owen to switch places with you, I’m guessing, so I could talk to you. Thought it was a bit odd for relationship trouble.”

“I just… I’m just a bit stuck in my own thoughts. Nothing to worry about. This file is a catalogue of each of the items in the case, where they were picked up and what they do.”

“It’d be nice if every item we found came tagged and with instructions.”

“I don’t think Tosh would be too impressed.”

“True… So?”

“So, what?”

“What’s on your mind? I thought you’d enjoy visiting Gwen.”

She placed the folder down and started cross referencing the list with what was inside. “I did. Anwen’s beautiful.”

“And that’s got you upset?”

“No… I… I’m really happy for Gwen and Rhys, but I’m starting to wonder if I should even be around the baby.”

“Why?”

“I’m terrified I’ll scare her and… The last thing I want is for me to be the monster in her nightmares. I just know she’ll be able to see who I really am and I don’t think I can bare putting her through that, you know? Tosh and Owen both think what they see is me and what they saw at the fair was just an illusion. They think I’m just being insecure.”

“Have you told them how much this is getting to you?”

“Yea but I don’t think they really understand. They try but they’re both fully human and I’m … Not.”

“I can keep telling you that you are, but you’re not going to believe me. I mean I’m technically human but I know how you feel.”

“How do you get past it?”

He leaned against the worktop and looked out of the open door. “You… You never stop questioning but it gets easier to cope. You can use it to help keep you distanced from certain things. Use it to hide the faults you see in yourself. The best thing you can do is keep yourself grounded. Connect with people.” 

“Says you.”

“I never said I wasn’t a hypocrite. I’m getting better at it with Ianto around.” He smiled softly.

“Good.”

“I must have been a mess in your original timeline.”

“Future Owen didn’t really like talking about it. He just wanted to get things fixed and make sure your future was sustainable.”

“Sustainable?”

She carefully picked up the pieces of the broken mirror and placed them inside the metal shell that had held them. “You always notice the physical signs of everyone self destructing but you never notice the underlying problem. Not that he blamed you. You could never hold everyone together on your own. That’s the part he handed off to me.” 

“So, that’s what you meant by taking care of us. What about you?”

“What about me?”

“Who’s holding you together?”

“They’re doing their best but there are things only I can face. I’ve started dreaming again but… I’m considering asking Tosh to turn the settings back down a bit to see if I can stop them.”

He pulled his attention from the garden. “The dreams are better than the rift.”

“If I could teleport like I used to I wouldn’t have stripes like a tiger right now.” She mumbled, sliding the last piece of glass into place.

“You’re more than your abilities. I’m more than my immortality.”

“Still, I hate how difficult it is now. At least when this life’s over I’ll still be around so you won’t be alone.”

“Huh?”

“My body will die like a human but my soul or whatever you want to call it is entwined with the rift so I’ll still be around. Maybe I’ll be able to create a physical form again one day. Hopefully that’s a long way off yet though.”

He felt bad for actually feeling a small spark of happiness that there would still be someone around for the long years ahead of him. “A long way off.”

“The pocket watch isn’t with the rest and this is broken. The pages are water damaged but I can make out that it was found at some point in 1953.” She handed over the folder for Jack to read. 

He flicked through the papers. “These are from Torchwood four.”

“Can we ask them?”

“No. They disappeared a while ago. No one knows what happened to them.” He took the mirror and the pocket watch documents and held them up in the light, reading past the water damage. “The mirror was a portable wide spectrum viewer.”

“Makes invisible things visible?”

“Exactly.”

“Maybe something didn’t like being seen. Speaking of, do you think it’s still here?”

“No. Even with beings you can’t see you can tell when there are eyes on you. The watch was still being tested so hopefully he didn’t have time to sell it on.” 


	2. Pieces of silver

Tosh smiled at the thin layer of distortion her shield was creating. It was just a small test area but if proved that the theory was a real possibility. 

“Looks a bit small. I don’t think it’s going to stop much.” Owen teased.

“It’s a prototype. I need to test it before I move on to a working version.”

“Then let’s test it. Got anything to throw at it?”

“Other than you.”

He chuckled softly. “You’d be upset if I got hurt.”

“I’m sure I could put you back together.”

“I’m not sure about a future as a robot.” He wrapped his arms around her middle, leaning on her shoulder. 

She giggled. “Shouldn’t you be working?”

“Eliot is patched up and home with no memory of his eating binge. Sadly, not even I can cure that level of stupid.”

“Then you’re free to find something to throw at the shield.”

He rolled his eyes. “Fine. There are more fun things we could be doing right now you know.”

“Later.” She giggled as he planted a kiss on her neck, shooing him away. “And tell me when Jack and Eli get back. I want to see if he managed to get her to talk about what’s wrong.” 

“Yes ma’am.”

“Oh shoo.”

Jack sighed as he looked over the mess of a room they’d have to search through to find the watch. It was definitely not downstairs, that much he knew for certain. He’d left Elise down there to finish documenting everything in the case and the bodies strange condition. It was if it froze in time the moment they died. No smell or usual mess you got from a corpse, just a room temperature greyscale body. Owen was going to have a field day working that one out. 

The greyscale effect hadn’t reached the second floor so there was that to work with. Tugging open the curtains something caught his eye, sitting on the bedside table was a silver pocket watch.

“At least that wasn’t too hidden.” He picked up the intricately decorated piece, light bouncing off its polished surface. Dave must have polished it because there was no way it had stayed in such pristine condition with how everything else in the case looked. Opening it he found the clock face had five hands instead of three. 

It had obviously been well cared for and as long as it didn’t have any anomalous properties he wondered if Ianto would like it. He flicked it closed with a satisfying click and headed back downstairs.

“Found it.” He called, holding it up for Elise to see.

She looked round. “So that’s everything. I was rereading the documentation and… Well there are a few notes that contradict each other. I think a couple of the pages might be forged. Plus I found something interesting tucked away in the lining of the case. Three passports, all different names but the same picture. All expired in the 60’s. Four different Torchwood id’s from around the same era and this.” She held up a small case, similar to one that would hold a cutthroat razor but with a lock and the Torchwood insignia pressed into the side. Jack walked over and took it from her hand. It had been years since he’d seen one of these cases and banned their contents use. 

“You’ve gone a bit pale. What is it?” She asked, organising all of the documents.

“An interrogation kit from a long time ago.”

“When you say interrogation you mean-”

“Yea. They were banned here in the 20’s in all but the most extreme cases. In other branches… It took a lot longer.”

“That’s… Dark.”

He tossed the kit back into the case. “We can look into the documents back at the hub.”

“What about the thing that turned this place into a black and white photograph?”

“There’s nothing here to track. We’ll just have to wait for Owen to find out what he can with the body.”

Jack returned to find Owen and Ianto both throwing tennis balls at nothing, and ‘nothing’ bouncing them back. Tosh sat to one side, taking readings from the sonic shield prototype that was holding up even better than expected.

“I’m just going to adjust the frequency a little.” She said.

One of the tennis balls bounced off the shield at a velocity no one had expected. The ball was shot across the hub as Ianto dodged out of the way, feeling the projectile graze his shoulder. Jack caught it and examined the slightly singed side that had come into contact with the shield. 

“Sorry!” Tosh cringed, having not expected such a violent repulsive effect. 

The captain tossed the ball into the air and caught it again. “So this is what you’ve all been up to. I hate to break up the party but we have a body that needs dealing with.”

“I thought you were just going to speak to the guy.” Said Owen, tossing the last tennis ball he’d been holding to Ianto who was already collecting the scattered test projectiles.

“We would have if he’d been alive when we got there. You’re going to want to see this.”

“Is this a, you’re going to want to see this because it’s interesting, or a, you’re going to want to see this because someone gets off on seeing the resident doctor cringe?”

“For once it’s the former.” He threw the scorched tennis ball to Elise who was carrying the leather case in one hand. She caught it and carried it over to her desk where she placed the case down.

“Looks like testing’s going well.” She mused, examining the burnt fibres. 

Ianto took it and added it to the basket full of its unburnt copies. “It works if you want to work at Wimbledon. Not sure about anything stronger than that yet.”

“It just needs tweaking. I have every confidence it could block bullets, even at this stage of development.” Tosh switched the shield off and closed her laptop. “Is that everything?” 

Elise nodded. “As far as I know. I need you to look at the paperwork we found in the case. Some of them look like old but legitimate Torchwood documents. Others, not so much.”

“Wait, Torchwood documents?”

“Yep. Jack said they were from Torchwood four. There are old IDs and fake passports too. Along with what I’ve been informed is an interrogation kit.”

“Why is it all grey?” Asked Ianto, his curiosity pulling him over to view the contents of the case.

“That was the strange thing. When we got to the house it was like something had drained all the colour from everything in an 8ft radius of the residents body. Who or whatever did it was gone but the effect was still very much active.” She collected the folder and the other documents then handed them to Tosh. “Oh, and be careful. A mirror was broken and some of the pieces had dropped on the folder. I think I got them all but you never know.”

“This shouldn’t take long.” Tosh took the folder and looked through the pages. “Why would someone forge these?”

“If they were trying to sell the items to a collector it would be easier with documentation.” Said Ianto. “But if they had access to the originals then there might be some details they’re trying to hide. I can look into our records for the time. If this much tech was stolen we probably would have heard about it.”

“That might contain the original documentation too, so we could identify anything that turned up.”

“And I’m going to see if we’ve got anything on record that saps the colour from everything around it.” Elise smiled.

Owen had to admit this was new. The body was black and white all the way through. It was also the same temperature all the way through which shouldn’t have been possible with how long the man had been dead. Whatever had killed him had left the man with a twisted look of horror etched into his face. When a human dies their jaw goes slack as the muscles are no longer receiving signals to hold their mouth closed but that didn’t change the look in the mans eyes. They were glassy but they still held every bit of terror he’d experienced just before he died. What Owen couldn’t work out was what exactly had killed the man. Other than a low level of alcohol there was nothing in his blood that could be the culprit. No external or internal signs of trauma beyond a light fall backwards in which he hadn’t hit his head. His lungs were clear, brain was in unusually good condition, heart was undamaged. There was no reason this man should be dead but there he was. 

Owen knew there weren’t high levels of any kind of radiation but he hoped there would be trace amounts of something that could help explain anything about this guy.

“So, what have we got?” Asked Jack from the walkway.

“A decent mix of bugger and all.”

“Any idea why he’s grey?”

“The pigment in every bit of him has changed. I don’t know how or why but that’s what’s happened. That alone shouldn’t have killed him. It’s as if he just shut down.”

Jack looked a little frustrated. “There was nothing in that case with an effect even close to this. The only thing that looked like it had been touched was the full spectrum mirror. I don’t know of anything that would only become hostile when spotted and do this.”

“Any idea who the case belonged to before it ended up here?”

“Still working on it.”

Ianto had looked through the digitised archive but hadn’t found anything there. What he knew was that only important files had been fully digitised so there was a chance something still sat in one of the filing cabinets that dwelt in his usual domain. He walked down to the set of draws that would have held what he wanted, if it existed. First draw, nothing. Second draw, nothing. Third draw, there it was. A thin folder contained what was essentially a wanted poster for a disgraced agent, their photo printed in the top right hand corner. Sean Landis, only 26 at the time, a technical expert who had murdered a fellow agent before fleeing with a number of stolen items. It warned of the possibility of him colluding with some kind of alien entity. It didn’t give any more details than that. The rest of the papers were shorter versions of the item documents. He closed the draw and headed back to the others. Tosh had separated her set of documents into the real ones and fake ones. The real ones had a UV reactive watermark that lit up under a blacklight. 

“How many are fake?” Ianto asked.

Tosh looked up. “Four. Did you have any luck?”

“I did.” He handed over the folder. “We don’t have full documentation for the items but we do have partial descriptions. Apparently the owner of the case had an alien contact who helped him.” 

She looked through the list of items and cross referenced the descriptions with the forged documents. The first being a device that could terraform a limited area for agricultural use for as long as it’s buried there. The second being a very fancy heater that could create an area that would stay at a temperature you programmed it to no matter the surrounding conditions. The third being a pocket watch that, beyond just telling Earth time, could project a star map, tell you what phase the moon was in and the direction of the nearest water source. The fourth was essentially a camera. Tosh moved round to the case and took out the camera, studying it for a moment before pressing a few buttons. An image rose, projected from it. 

One figure was Sean but the other she didn’t know much about. He was definitely a male argerion, the tattoos on his skin being common for his race. 

“I know I shouldn’t judge on appearance but those two don’t look the rebellious type.” She said, showing off the image.

“I think we’ve been looking at this all wrong.” Ianto took the wanted poster and quickly reread it. “The warning we were sent said he’d murdered another agent but doesn’t give a name for them. The case was full of what could be considered farming and survival equipment.”

“It sounds more like they were running away together. He must have broken the argerion out of containment and tried to leave Ireland together.”

“At the time it would have been a death wish without help.”

“Maybe they heard that here would be a bit more understanding. They brought the documents just to prove he didn’t have violent intentions if he had to show what was in the case.”

“Then we still have no idea what caused the desaturation effect, or what happened to Sean and his partner.”

“I don’t know what had the effect but I know what happened to the lovebirds.” Jack said sadly, revealing he’d been listening. “I didn’t recognise him but way back we did find a human and an argerion. They’d been hiding in an empty house. We only found them because the owner of the place was showing a workman around saw two dead bodies in the master bedroom. They’d poisoned themselves over a week before they were found and the rats weren’t kind. They were still holding hands.” 

Tosh and Ianto both looked back at the hologram showing the couple when they were happy.

“But that leaves us at a dead end with our greyscale killer.”

“It only turned up when the case was opened, didn’t it?” Asked Ianto.

“Yea.”

“Maybe it was why they abandoned the case. When it was disturbed the greyscale being was let out, or attracted. It could have been sleeping.”

“For decades?”

“Honestly, we’ve had things hibernate for longer sir.” 

“Point, but why would it want a survival kit?”

Elise turned from her desk. “It’s not the kit it wants. It’s the case itself, or more the emotional remnants left from its owner.”

“Oh?”

“We didn’t have any alien on file that could drain colour so I changed what I was searching for. I looked into local mythology and cryptid sightings. I found a report of a monster attacking a village wedding in the sixth century. And believe me it was an absolute bitch to translate as the system can’t translate modern Welsh, let alone an ancient version without standardised spelling.”

“I thought you were fluent in Welsh.”

Ianto and Elise shared a glance that said they were both internally facepalming. “Are you fluent in old and middle English?”

He chuckled. “Ok, fair. Go on.”

“Very long story short a wedding took place and most of the village attended. As it was late in the year due to the bride being ill all through spring and summer, the sun was already setting by the end of the ceremony. The guests lit a bonfire and started the reception. As the bride and groom joined the festivities the grooms mother gifted a silver mirror to the bride. She took it thankfully but upon looking into it she shrieked. As she dropped it a living shadow came hopping out of the trees that had been behind her. Everyone watched in horror as it leapt upon the bride. It’s eyes bright with moonlight it opened its mouth in a silent scream, more moonlight shining from it like a candle. It grabbed for a ribbon wrapped around the bride's neck. It had been given to her like an engagement ring and she had worn it since. All the colour drained from her face, the leaves of her headdress and the earth around her body. It was said that even the flames of the bonfire for a moment lost its colour. With the ribbon in its spindly hand it returned to the shadows, leaving the bride a soulless husk. The groom who had tried to pull the creature away from his beloved was left with a cursed arm. It was as grey as stone, cold to the touch and he could never feel it again. The villagers covered the cursed land with the ashes of the fire and, in fear, buried the bride and the silver mirror in the cursed earth. For a long time, or until Christianity took hold in the area, silver mirrors were forbidden. You could be executed for creating one. Apparently mirrors made of anything else didn’t attract the thing.” 

“It’s an interesting fairytale.”

“We found the full spectrum mirror right by the body.”

Tosh picked up the document from the mirror. “This says the mirror had a composite coating that was 70% silver.”

“Silver mirrors aren’t really a thing anymore but the creature still hasn’t taken the item it wanted.”

“Why didn’t it take the case before we arrived?” Asked Jack.

“Because it wasn’t complete. One item was here and the other was upstairs. It needed the whole lot.”

“We can’t just sit here and hope it gives up. Think you can make a silver mirror?”

“Sure, as long as you’ve got enough silver on hand to melt down.” 

The captain looked to Ianto who nodded. “I’m sure we have enough for at least a small mirror.”

“Get on it. In the meantime, Tosh how long do you think it’ll take to get that sonic shield up and running reliably?” Asked Jack.

Tosh considered it for a moment. “If I concentrate everything on that, and only that, I’d say about an hour. It won’t be pretty but it’ll work.” 

“That’s all it’ll need to do.” 

Elise had just finished polishing the mirror when she heard the door to her workshop open. 

“Everything ok?” She asked, covering the mirror with a piece of fabric that had once been one of her t shirts. 

Jack hadn’t expected her to be done so quickly but it worked for him. “I have a favour to ask.”

“Oh?”

He took the ornate, silver, pocket watch and held it out to her. “Think you can make a copy?”

“Let me take a look.” She flicked on a lamp that sat on the edge of a desk in the corner. “Wasn't this the last item in the case?”

“Yea.”

“The papers didn’t do it justice. It’s beautiful work. I can certainly try and make a replica. Any extra requests?”

“I trust your workmanship.... Just… Don’t tell Ianto.”

She chuckled lightly. “Ahh I get it now. My lips are sealed… Though I will need to go hunting for a few specialist tools.”

“Anything you need.”

“Do I have a deadline?”

“No. I mean before his birthday would be nice but I’m not going to rush you.”

“That long? No problem. I’ll have to take this one apart first though. Isn’t that going to look a bit suspicious?”

“Tosh was too busy and you had the skills necessary to look into it.”

“Fair enough.” She placed the watch in a case she took from the desk, a ‘do not touch’ sticker clearly visible on top. “I’ll put a short list together of things I’ll need once I get home. It’ll be nice to do some intricate work.”

“I see the mirror’s ready to go.”

“Yup. How do you think this is going to play out?”

“I hope it’ll try and attack as soon as I see it and end up burning itself out on the shield.”

“And if it doesn’t?”

“Then we shoot it.”

“The thing’s millenia old and you think we can just shoot it?”

Jack shrugged. “You’d be surprised how often it works.”

“And if it doesn’t I suppose I can hop back in time and tell you it won’t.”

“Can you still do that?”

“I bloody well hope so. If not then I can see a lot of anxiety in my future.”

He picked up the mirror and tucked it under his arm. “It’ll be fine. If you’re free now you can help Tosh.”

“I doubt she’ll need it but ok.”

Owen walked around the completed shield, resting his hand against the invisible field. It felt like two magnets pushing each other apart. 

“We have the simple shield setting perfected but I’m a little worried it could become unstable if I make it any stronger.” Tosh said, checking her calculations. 

“As long as it doesn’t rip itself apart then you can just turn it down if things get too dangerous.”

“That or it deafens us all. Owen stop poking it.”

He looked her in the eye and poked the shield again with a grin. She rolled her eyes but smiled, appreciating his childishness. It was cute. “Well, if you don’t step away you’re going to get burned.”

“Fine.” He backed away from the barrier. “Think this’ll stop the… What are we calling it?”

“I don’t think it’s been given an official name.”

“Oi, Ianto! What are we calling this colour eating thing?”

Ianto placed two coffee mugs down. “What about dementors?”

“W-... Why?”

“They drain positive feelings and souls, leaving a shell with no outward damage.”

“You know what, fair enough. Dementors they are.”

“Shame we don’t have a patronus to chase it off.”

“And this is too much Harry Potter for me.” He took his coffee and began to walk off.

“But you knew it was Harry Potter.”

“Blame Tosh.”

She looked up. “I’m a Ravenclaw.”

Jack made sure everyone was out of sight before pulling the fabric from the silver mirror. The reflection was perfect, not distorted by a single dent or bump in the metal. Behind him he could see two glowing eyes, perfectly round orbs of white light set in a void that was the creatures head. It crawled towards him, a third hole in its face opening as if it was screaming. He turned as it leapt, long bony fingers reaching out. A slight fear rose in the pit of his stomach as the creature descended when it hit the shield and was thrown back as if hit by lightning. Its skin bubbled with the heat and a hissing sound rose from it as it rolled over, barely able to hold itself up. The shield had worked, mostly. The floor under each step the creature made lost all colour, spreading out like ripples through water. It tilted its head.

“Go ahead, try it again.” Jack smirked. “You still want the case, don’t you?”

The dementor leapt again, landing on the invisible shield, smoke rising from its burning fingers and toes. For a moment Jack thought it was over. It should have been over but looking into those white eyes made his head swim. He heard two shots but didn’t see anything change. In fact, he couldn’t see anything at all. 

Tosh deactivated the shield as the dementor was very dead. Its head had popped like a soot filled balloon. 

“Jack? Are you ok?” She asked, approaching tentatively. 

He brought a hand up to his face, feeling for anything covering his skin. “I… I can’t see.” 

Owen ran over and dragged a chair with him, guiding Jack to sit down. “Easy. Let’s hope this is temporary.” 

His usually blue eyes were a light grey and he felt dizzy. “Owen?”

“Yea?”

“Something’s wrong… I … Dizzy… Can’t feel my fingers.”

“Ianto, help me move him.”

Ianto pulled one of Jacks arms over his shoulder and Owen took the other. “You’ll be alright.”

The captain looked pale. “Ianto… I… Where am I?”

“You’re in the hub. It’s ok.” He shared a very worried glance with Owen.

“I don’t want to die.” 

“We’re going to try and stop that happening.”

Owen bit his lip, guessing there was very little that could be done if the body was anything to go by. At least they could get their boss comfortable. They helped Jack lay down and Ianto stayed by his side, trying to keep him calm.

“Ianto?” Jack slurred.

“I’m here.”

“Wait for me… I promise I… I’ll be back…”

“I know. It won’t take long, I’m sure.” It never got easier to see Jack dying, even with full knowledge that it wasn’t permanent it still hurt. Even more so when he looked so scared.

“It’s dark… I… Who am I?... What’s going-” His voice trailed off into an awful silence as his brain shut down. 

Ianto felt tears run down his face and he tried to swallow the lump in his throat. 

Owen lowered his voice to almost a whisper. “You want to take a minute? I can wait here.”

He shook his head, unable to vocalise his thoughts. Owen patted him on the shoulder in a way that said “you’ll be ok.” and left to give him some space. 

Tosh and Elise stood waiting, not wanting to intrude but both being worried. 

“Give him a few minutes then you can go down.” Said Owen, slumping down into a chair.

“What happened?” Asked Elise.

“We assumed it needed direct contact to kill.”

Tosh lent on Elises shoulder. “It just needed direct eye contact.”

“Should I try and go back to warn him?”

Owen gave her a disapproving look. “No. That’s only for permanent deaths. If you did that every time something went wrong you’d go out of your mind. Just concentrate on the fact that the dementor is dead and the shield works.”

“I can at least get that cleaned up.”

“Leave it alone. It might be dead but we don’t know what contact with the body could do. I’ll deal with it.”

Tosh tugged on her sleeve gently. “We should just sit and wait. It won’t take long for Jack to come back and we’ve all had a busy day.”

Elise sighed deeply and plodded over to the sofa, sinking down into it. 

At least Jack looked peaceful, free of the fear he’d previously been suffering. Ianto guessed that the greyscale effect had spread from his eyes and his disorientation was caused by it spreading through his brain. Usually Jack ended up dying in quick ways, usually a gunshot to the head or at the wrong end of some alien weapon. That was easier to deal with as the pain didn’t have time to register but slow deaths. Those were painful to watch. It broke Iantos heart seeing Jack in pain, especially when he’d put himself in it to protect everyone else. He’d be back. He’d always be back and smile, make some quip and pretend everything was fine. 

“You didn’t have to wait here for me.” Said Jack softly, looking up with his normal blue eyes.

Ianto laughed through a sob. “Where else would I wait?”

“Did we kill it?”

“Yes. It’s dead. Don’t you remember?”

“Not really. Maybe that’s good if you had time to get me down here. Ianto are you-”

“I’m ok. I’m glad you’re back.” 

“I’m glad you’re the first person I got to wake up to.” He reached up and wiped a tear from Iantos cheek.

“Oh you’re fine then.” Owen said from the doorway. “If you’re well enough to flirt then I can just start cleanup with our dead dementor.”

Ianto turned. “I can-”

“No, you can stay here. I’ve got to make sure the body’s safe to handle and Elise is ordering dinner.”


End file.
